Vikings could have steered by polarized light

Source

Legend says that Vikings used something called Sunstones
for navigational purposes on cloudy days.

Science now confirms that these were likely a calcite that polarized the light.

So ingenious using local material.

I hope you enjoy. I did a search and didn't see anything.

Did vikings have an accurate way to tell time?

reply to post by RestingInPieces


From what I have read they could only tell the time by events. For example a year was divided into winter/summer the farming cycle.

Originally posted by TechVampyre
reply to post by RestingInPieces

 

From what I have read they could only tell the time by events. For example a year was divided into winter/summer the farming cycle.

Then they obviously were not able to track the sun through the sky using fractions of the day.

Seems like I've read that many of the Viking Discoveries were accidents.

Cool find Eh sometimes the best discoveries are made by accident. If this is true it would be a very interesting technique. I wonder though how many retinas were burned out trying it?

reply to post by RestingInPieces


You know That's a really interesting question. I have been doing some research and I can't find anything specific other than they segmented years and counted days... But nothing regarding hours/time.

Though it seems this is required for their complex navagations.

Anybody? Bueler?